Moving
by sparrhawk
Summary: Franky thought she was getting better, that she was becoming normal. But then Matty got back together with Liv and things went back to square one. Her Dads think a new start would do her good, this time in a different continent.
1. Chapter 1

**Set before Skins series 6, after series 5, as for Glee, it starts around season 3 episode 8, when the New Directions are in a desperate need for more members... In this fic, Franky can sing a little (but she's obviously no Rachel Berry/Mercedes). I own nothing and mentions of Dean (Franky's friend in Oxford) were inspired by Tobiko's story I had a mate, a best mate.**

"They give you any shit and you call us immediately alright Franky?"

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea after all Jeff? Why don't we just se..."

Franky put her headphones on and tuned out Jeff and Geoff's voices as her two fathers continued fretting over her. She stared blankly out the car window, thinking of Grace, Alo, Rich, Mini, Nick, and even Matty and Liv – of the life she'd left behind, to start anew. For the second time. How did things get like this? She knew there was something wrong with her; she knew her mind was messed up from the beginning. Why else would her parents have left her? Which other 6 year old would have found 9/11 beautiful? And yet she thought she was getting better; she thought she was becoming normal. Her friends were helping her after all, or at least, they tried to help her.

Her train of thought was disrupted when the car pulled over in front of a rather old looking red bricked building. In truth, the building probably wasn't that old, but the dirt and dust that had accumulated on and greyed the previously blue windowsills and darkened the cream coloured and red bricked walls, which were already marred due to vandalism, told a different story. Maybe her messed up head was just exaggerating things, making her see flaws that weren't there to begin with. Maybe she was just being too picky, after all, not many schools could compare to Roundview, in terms of the quality of the facilities it provided. But then again that was just her biased opinion. Oh how she missed her old life!

"Franky!"

"Huh, what?" Franky replied as she removed her headphones.

"Are you alright?" Geoff asked, his eyes full of concern.

Up till then, Franky hadn't realised that her breathing was getting heavier.

"I'm fine. Jet lag s'all" Franky blurted out, not even bothering to think through her response and come up with a half decent lie.

"We flew here last week Franky," Jeff stared at Franky intently, his forehead scrunched up in a frown.

Before, the girl could respond, Geoff cut in, giving her the usual advice, "Don't agonise yourself too much, just try to blend in and don't take any crap from anyone alright?"

Franky gave a nod to acknowledge what her dads' had said before getting off the car, and Jeff and Geoff gave her one last reassuring smile before driving off, remembering the ruckus she had caused the last time they had let her walk to school on her own on her first day.

"Are you sure moving here was the right decision? Despite the crap she got, Franky did have some pretty close mates back in Bristol," Geoff said, his eyes fixed on the rear view mirror, unable to stop himself from worrying about his adopted daughter in spite of the advice he himself had given her.

"And she had Dean back in Oxford, and she still had a shit time in the school there..." Jeff sighed as memories came flooding in – memories of Franky limping home, in nothing but a wife beater and boxer shorts, covered with eggs and flour, of videos and pictures of her being beaten up, the look on her face with the word 'FREAK' scrawled on her forehead with a permanent marker, and of course that damned social networking group. He then thought of Bristol. Franky seemed to have been doing a lot better there, she had more friends, hell, she even had a boyfriend! But of course the bloody bastard had to go and break her heart. "If she really is unable to adjust, then maybe we'll go back to Bristol. We'll see how it goes..." he trailed of, turning his attention back on the road.

* * *

><p>It was after her dads drove off that Franky noticed the muffled sounds of protest. Turning towards the direction of the school, she saw a group of burly looking boys clad in similar jackets trooping out of the main doors, a smaller figure slung over their shoulders.<p>

_Just try to blend in._

Standing up to school bullies on your first day probably wouldn't be considered as the best way to "blend in". Franky tried to avert her eyes as she walked towards the side of the building, both hoping that there was a side door and that the boys were too busy tormenting the poor bloke to notice a possible new victim.

They were swinging him now. Ready to toss him. Into the dumpster.

Two other boys had joined the group. Just like the others they wore similar jackets, only instead of carrying a boy, each was holding a long metal bench.

After closing the dumpster lid, the group heaved the benches on top of the dumpster before going off, howling with laughter as they left.

A part of Franky wanted to pretend that she saw nothing, and leave the poor boy trapped in the dumpster. But another part, a fairly larger part, couldn't help but empathise with him. After all, Franky would know firsthand about bullying, being the constant victim of it.

She then walked over to the dumpster and pushed the benches off of the lid, wincing as each bench crashed to the ground, drawing the attention of the students milling about outside.

_Well, there goes my low profile._

"You alright there?" Franky asked, offering a hand.

* * *

><p>Blaine was positive it would take at minimum 15 minutes before he would be freed (and even the chances of that were fairly slim). Most of his friends never came to school as early as he did (and even when they do come, they may not necessarily notice he was trapped in the dumpster), and the teachers, at least those that cared, would have already been inside the school and be unable to hear him banging the inside of the dumpster. So imagine his surprise when he heard a scraping sound above him, barely a minute after he was tossed inside.<p>

"You alright there?" a girl asked, offering him a hand.

"I guess... at least, I don't think I broke anything." Blaine replied, taking her hand, and taking notice of her accent and distinctive dressing.

"Thank you," he said after climbing out.

The girl nodded and was about to leave when he continued, "You're not from around here are you?"

"What makes you say that?"

"For one thing, you actually helped a glee club member. And of course there's your accent... So let me guess, foreign exchange?"

"No, I transferred here from Bristol." The girl replied.

"Alright," said Blaine, nodding, "Tell you what; if you want I can show you around the school. Take it as a thank you for freeing me from the dumpster."

She seemed rather hesitant to accept his offer, Blaine thought he even saw a hint of suspicion in her eyes but then laughed to himself silently. He was being silly. Why on earth would she find his offer strange? She did help him after all.

"I transferred here not too long ago too. Granted, Westerville is definitely not as far as Bristol but I understand what you're feeling. Starting over in a new school isn't exactly easy but it does help having a couple of friends." He said, smiling as he thought of his boyfriend.

* * *

><p>Franky had no idea how to respond to the guy. She wasn't very used to people treating her nicely. Even her friends back in Bristol had given her a pretty rough start. Still speechless and unsure, she slowly nodded.<p>

"Alright then, I'm Blaine by the way."

"Franky."

"Welcome to McKinley Franky." Blaine said – rather cheerfully for a guy just thrown into a dumpster, Franky noted – as he lead Franky to the doors of McKinley High.


	2. Chapter 2

Kurt was not having a good day (and the near daily routine of slushy facials and getting slammed into lockers had not even begun yet). It started with his morning cleansing routine being disrupted and being chased out of the bathroom due to his stepbrother's loose bowel movement – when he told Finn to get rid of the milk, he meant throw it away not chug it all down! Then, while at the café with Mercedes, the cashier had spilt coffee all over him – worse still, all over his new Ralph Lauren cashmere sweater!

So now here he was, on his way to school, dead skin cells accumulated on his face, his skin dry, wearing a non-designer sweater (luckily Mercedes lived nearby and her dad was kind enough to lend him some clothes). _If I see so much as one new blackhead on my face tomorrow, Finn is going to pay. _He could not wait till he got to school, where his emergency clothes waited for him in his locker, and more importantly, where Blaine was. After all, seeing Blaine always made him feel better. He just had to wait a little while longer.

After changing into something more fashionable, he'd made his way down the halls of McKinley, carefully avoiding the Jocks, looking for his boyfriend. Unfortunately for Kurt, what he saw when he found said boyfriend was not exactly what he had expected.

Beside Blaine stood another boy, and the two seemed deep in conversation. Under most circumstances, Kurt would not have minded the least if Blaine was talking to another boy, but this was different. The boy in question was not dressed like the other slobs in McKinley High, he was dressed in a suit, had immaculately gelled hair, and a feminine quality to him that made Kurt see him as a potential rival when it came to Blaine.

_Oh no, first it was Meerkat Face, now it's Gay Midget. Not this time. _Plastering a smile onto his face, he marched right up to the two. "Hey there, care to introduce your friend?" Kurt greeted, his hand finding Blaine's, holding it protectively.

Almost immediately after the words left his mouth, his eyes widened. The "boy" was no competition at all! Heck, he wasn't even a boy! He'd been worrying himself for absolutely nothing! Kurt sighed inwardly in relief as Blaine introduced his new friend.

* * *

><p>The interior of McKinley was hardly as bad as Franky had originally thought. Aside from a few brightly coloured sticky looking stains here and there, everything was pretty much up to par.<p>

Blaine seemed like a nice enough guy too, with him being a fairly new transfer student, and a fellow outcast, Franky found that she could relate to him. He might even become a good friend in time to come. _Friend_, Franky laughed humourlessly to herself as memories of her friends in Bristol and even the one in Oxford, flashed through her mind.

After showing her around, talking about whatever came to mind, and finally leading her to her locker, Franky had gotten quite comfortable around Blaine and became a bit more conversable, and the two had gotten to talking about their old schools.

"You see Dalton was…" Blaine was cut off when a fashionably dressed boy came up to him, taking his hand possessively.

"Hey there, care to introduce your friend?" the boy asked Blaine, his eyes widening slightly upon seeing at Franky.

"Oh, hey! Kurt, this is Franky. She just transferred here from Bristol. Franky, this is Kurt, my boyfriend" Blaine responded, doing the introductions.

Now it was Franky's turn to be surprised. _Blaine is gay? No shit. _She smirked at the revelation; she should have guessed, having two gay dads and all, one would think she'd recognise a homosexual when she saw one.

* * *

><p>New Directions was going to lose, Finn was positive of that. Even with Sam Evans, the Troubletones were still going to be hard to beat, and worst of all, New Directions still lacked members! Sure the band geeks could help with the membership count, but they weren't exactly great dancers or singers, worse than that, they weren't real glee members, they didn't even really want to participate. Sure, he had been forced by Mr Schue to join it when he was a sophomore, but he had grown to like it, love it in fact. New Directions was now practically his life. Sadly the band geeks didn't seem like they would be very receptive of glee club anytime soon.<p>

Glee club needed members – members who actually wanted to be there. But who in McKinley would be brave (or daft, depending on how you look at it) enough to actually join it willingly?

* * *

><p>Saying her first class was a bore would be an understatement, and she thought the lessons in Bristol were dull enough. Why was she even in a US History class? She wasn't even a bloody Yank. Her classmates themselves seemed not to give a damn either. Those who weren't sound asleep were throwing paper airplanes and stationary about the classroom, and the teacher just went on reading from a textbook, seemingly oblivious (or more likely, resigned) to the state her class was in. Only one person in the class showed any interest in the lesson – a tall, brown haired boy in a green hoodie.<p>

When class finally ended, Franky was surprised to find the boy approaching her, and even more so when he opened his mouth. "So, you're pretty far from home too huh?"

_The irony, the only person interested in American history, isn't American at all._

He must have mistook her surprise for confusion for he quickly added in, "Oh right, erm, I'm Rory, Rory Flanagan. It's nice to meet you Francesca!" He grinned widely, waiting for her response.

"Franky" She said quietly, still trying to process the perky Irish guy.

His grin widened, and he went on introducing himself further, following her as she left the classroom.

"… And then I joined glee club. Plenty of nice people there, they don't make fun of you or shove you in lockers and all." _glee club, now where have I heard that before? _"And it's actually pretty fun. Speaking of which, we actually have a meeting later on." He paused for a while as an idea dawned on him. "Would you like to join us? Or maybe just hang out till the meeting time? I don't really have anything to do right now…"

He gave her a hopeful look that seemed to have a trace of helplessness (then again the guy perpetually seemed to wear a look beseeching sympathy), and Franky found herself unable to turn him down. _A new start yeah? _"Alright? I guess I'll stay for a while."

A smile even wider than the one he wore earlier broke across his face, and he led her to the choir room.

* * *

><p>Rory liked the new girl, there was no doubt about that. Sure, she was quiet and a little withdrawn, but she was polite (well, except for her occasional swearing. But she did seem to treat people decently) and most importantly, she was willing to be his friend. "We usually have our practice and meetings here, though occasionally we do get to use the auditorium."<p>

He smiled when he saw her fiddling with the musical instruments. "The others probably will probably come later. Most of them are seniors so they're kinda busier with school stuff. Do you want to sing a tune?"

"What?" the question seemed to shock her.

"C'mon it'll be fun" He replied signalling to some band members.

_When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me  
>Speaking words of wisdom, let it be<em>

He gave Franky a friendly nudge, trying to break her awkwardness, before continuing

_And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me  
>Speaking words of wisdom, let it be<br>Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be  
>Whisper words of wisdom, <em>

"Let it be" Franky finished the verse and proceeded on, thinking of her friends and taking her first step, though miserably small, in accepting the fact that she's left them.

_And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree  
>There will be an answer, let it be<br>For though they may be parted, there is still a chance that they will see  
>There will be an answer, let it be.<em>

At this Rory joined in, glad that she'd gone along with him.

_Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be  
>There will be an answer, let it be<br>Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be  
>Whisper words of wisdom, let it be<em>

They finished to the sound of clapping and were surprised to find Blaine walking into the room with Mr Schue.

"I didn't know you could sing Franky!" Blaine exclaimed, recognising her as he stepped in.

"You know, glee club could use more members." Mr Schue added in smiling. "I'm Mr Schuester by the way, the glee club director. We'd be extremely glad to have you, you are quite talented. " He walked towards Franky to shake her hand.

Now, she was absolutely mortified. "I can't," she mumbled in response to both Blaine and Mr Schuester, as she sidestepped the teacher and walked off, not daring to look up.


End file.
